


Never Alone

by Yuufa



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Comedy, Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-16 03:15:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11245182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuufa/pseuds/Yuufa
Summary: "Sometimes, the castle-ship was far too quiet for Lance’s taste." - A submission for Tumblr's Voltron Secret Valentine 2017.





	Never Alone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thalia-freaking-grace](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=thalia-freaking-grace).



Sometimes, the castle-ship was _far_ too quiet for Lance’s taste.

Due to his upbringing, he was used to noisiness. Be it cheerful chattering, occasional squabblings or loud, but hearty laughter filling the room; it was a world that he was familiar with. A world that he’d often complained about, but only now, when he wasn’t living in it anymore, did he realize _how much_ he actually missed it.

In order to compensate this lonely void in some-, no, in _any_ way, Lance was prone to seek out the company of the other residents. Although he tried to be subtle about it, he knew that at least Coran and Hunk have since long grown aware of this habit of his. The blue paladin was thankful that neither of them were telling the others about it, because coming off as needy would just add to his feeling of worthlessness in the face of all these talented people. Sure, Hunk and Coran had already reassured him multiple times that he was just as important as the rest of them, but a part of him just couldn’t bring itself to actually believe it.

Let’s face it; he wasn’t as smart as Pidge. He also didn’t know much about mechanics, unlike his friend Hunk. He also wasn’t as much of a charismatic leader as Shiro. Hell, he was painfully aware how much of a better pilot Keith was than himself! There were also Allura and Coran, both well-versed in multiple sections - be it repairing the ancient ship or wrecking havoc despite not controlling a lion like the rest of them did.

Taking everything into account, Lance couldn’t help but wonder - where did _he_ stand amidst them all?

A heavy sigh escaped his throat as Lance shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind from these negative thoughts. He knew very well that it wouldn’t help him to dwell on these things, but unfortunately, they were quite persistent in dragging his spirit down. Therefore, he knew that he needed distractions and thus, had already stepped out of his room to wander around the corridors. The only sounds echoing throughout them were his own footsteps, which he’d become quite accustomed to at this point. It didn’t mean that he was particularly fond of them, but beggars couldn’t be choosers and human beings were known to be incredibly adaptable.

The first stop in his little journey was the kitchen, as it was one of Hunk’s most frequented places. However, when he arrived there, he didn’t meet the man he had expected to - instead, it was Pidge, who was currently getting her share of delightful green goo.

“Hey Pidge.”

“Hey.”

The aggravating tone in her short reply made Lance raise his eyebrows quizzically. Curious as he was, Lance had to inquire right away:“Something wrong? You don’t look exactly happy.”

“What gave it away?” Almost immediately after that sarcastic retort, Pidge sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, quietly apologizing to the other paladin. Although taken aback, Lance quickly recovered and simply nodded, gesturing for his newfound companion to continue on. “Just tired today.”

“You sure?”

For a moment, Pidge seemed to weigh her options, before letting out a sigh as she opened her mouth again:“Well, and there’s also this _stupid_ machine that teaches you altean that has thrown me a bunch of words at my head that aren’t only a pain in the ass to pronounce, they’re also hardly apt to be used on a daily base! I mean, when will I ever need to know what ‘athymia’ means in altean?”

“Athy- wait, what?”

“Melancholy.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, I’ve just had it for today, so I’m going to eat some goo and tinker at some machines now.”

This seemed fair enough. However, Lance couldn’t help but feel as if she might grow even more exasperated if she’d go with this plan. Or at least, it would turn out like this if her mood didn’t improve.

It’s at this moment when an idea hit him.

Lance wasn’t sure how Pidge would take this in, but it was worth a shot. Therefore, after a moment of consideration about phrasing his next words, Lance said:“Yeah, I mean, you could do that, but how about you do something else? Change things up a little from your usual routine?”

This time, it was Pidge’s eyebrows who rose up in question, before she responded:”Like what?”

“Like leaving your cares behind for a bit? For example, you could try out a face mask, lean back and just chill out”, when Pidge’s face took in annoyed features, Lance made sure to continue talking before she could counter in any way,”I know, I know, it’s not really your thing, but hey, never said that this would be the only thing we’d be doing.”

As Lance grinned mischievously, Pidge’s expression turned into one of slight confusion again. Although the annoyance wasn’t completely gone, it seemed like as if she was at least willing to hear him out. Lance knew he had to keep on or else, she might leave in an even worse mood than before.

“My plan is to assemble everyone for that. I mean, we’ve all been kinda tense lately, so we could use some relaxation, right? But that alone wouldn’t be fun, would it? So what we’re gonna do is lube Keith some of that lovely goo-”, he nods at the food in Pidge’s hands,”on his face.” Pidge intervened right afterwards:“He’d notice it right away that it’s- no, before that, how would you convince him to join to begin with?”

“Well, if Shiro and Coran said something about ‘team-bonding’, I’m sure even he’d have to comply. As for the recognizing thing… I could always ask Coran if it’s possible to change the colors for that goo. Maybe Hunk could help, too.”

“If anyone could do that, it’d be them for sure.”

“So, what do you think? I mean, just imagine Keith’s face full of that stupid goo!”

The green paladin seemed to think for a moment, before a snicker escaped her lips, her grin rivaling that of Lance in terms of mischief. “You know, this could be actually pretty entertaining in its own right.”

“Right? See, not only will our skin thank us for that long-needed care, we’re also gonna get a laugh out of it! It’s going to be great!”, Lance sounded way too enthusiastic about this, but what could he do? The thought of smacking some goo into Keith’s face without having to run for his life immediately was way too funny. Pidge smiled and spoke up once more:“Well, guess you’re not wrong about changing things up once in a while, but we can’t do that right away. I mean, we have to do preperations first.”

Lance paused for a moment, before grinning askew as he rubbed the back of his neck. He’d gotten ahead of himself there, didn’t he? “Uh, yeah, guess you got me there”, Lance admitted. Pidge laughed quietly, before getting her reply in:”At least we have something to look forward to, huh?”

“Look forward to what?”

Both paladins turned around in surprise, looking at the mighty stature that was Hunk. The gentle boy blinked, confusion clearly apparent on his face as he looked to and fro. Lance and Pidge exchanged glances, before their grins returned to their faces. As their gazes turned back to Hunk, the yellow paladin furrowed his eyebrows and took a careful step back. “Uh, guys?”

“You’re the man we were looking for, Hunk.”

 

A few minutes afterwards, Hunk was in the loop and very much on board with this idea. He might be one of the nicer guys around, but even he couldn’t pass up on the occasional prank. Given the harmless nature of this specific one, there wasn’t much to worry about to begin with anyway. “I think I can change the color of the goo. I’ve been experimenting a bit, you see? Actually managed to give it a blue color”, stated the tallest paladin among the currently present ones. “Awesome”, were the two cents of Pidge, while Lance went for a:“That’s Hunk for you!”

Hunk meekily smiled, scratching his cheeks as he said:”Haha, thanks. Uh, what kind of color would you like it to be? Would it be that mint one? Or the one that’s completely white? I think it’d be faster to do the former, because I wouldn’t have to figure out how to make it white. I mean, mint is kind of green and blue, right?”

“Hmmm…”, Lance seemed to ponder about it a bit, but before he could answer, Pidge chimed in,”If we want to do it as soon as possible, I guess we’d be better off with the mint one, Lance.”

“… Yeah, you’re right. I mean, the white one would’ve been also funny on another-”

_“Lance!”_

“Jesus, you’re childish.”

Lance laughed and soon enough, he was joined by Hunk and Pidge. It was nice to just hang out together, Lance thought. This was exactly why he loved to surround himself with other people - it was far more easier to laugh, far more easier to enjoy himself. He could feel his mood improving and from what he could tell, both Hunk and Pidge seemed to be in the same boat as well.

“What are you all laughing about?”

For the second time, all heads inside the kitchen turned around to the entry. Instead of just one person appearing, it was actually two this time - Shiro and Keith. They looked just as confused as Hunk not a few minutes ago.

The Garrison Trio exchanged glances, then put on their most innocent smiles and looked back to the newcomers. “Oh, nothing~”, Pidge almost sang, her goo slightly wobbling as her hands moved a bit. Meanwhile, Hunk began to hum as he finally began to do some cooking. As for Lance, he just couldn’t help but open his mouth as well:”That aside, what were you guys up to?”

Shiro and Keith looked at each other for a moment, before returning their attention back to the rest of the paladins. They were looking skeptical, but neither of them seemed to want to pry any further. Instead, Shiro gave the answer to Lance’s question:”We’ve been sparing up until now. You guys should do that too.”

_Yikes._ Lance gave Pidge and Hunk a _‘See what I meant?!’_ look, before his eyes went back to their leader. “Yeah, we know, but at the same time, I think it’s high-time for us to relax! Especially you two, you’re gonna end up all shriveled up at this point!”

“Lance, I’m making sure that I stay hydrated”, Shiro countered, eyebrows slightly furrowed. Keith nodded along and Lance had to resist the urge to facepalm himself. Seeing how exasperated Lance got with the two of them, Pidge joined in on the conversation:”I don’t think that’s what he meant, guys.”

“Then what is it?”, Keith demanded to know. One could bet that Lance was more than eager to answer:“What I said before - relax! No training, no fighting, no worrying, no nothing! Just get together, take care of ourselves and chill out! I mean, we can’t be constantly tense all the time, can we? I mean, that’s just asking for trouble later on!”

“I’m not tense”, Keith protested. Lance gave Keith an inconceivable look:“Oh sure, you’re not tense. _Right._ ” Before a possible fight could escalate between the two of them, Hunk intervened hurriedly:”I’m actually with Lance on this one! Breaks are important and every once in a while, we’ve gotta take it easy. So why not get together and simply enjoy our time together without anything trying to kill us?”

“That last part wasn’t necessary, Hunk”, Pidge remarked and all Hunk could give was a sheepish smile. Shiro seemed to ponder, before letting out a sigh. “I guess you’re not completely wrong in what you’re saying.”

_“Yes!”_

“But right now, you don’t look exactly tense yourselves”, Shiro exclaimed, Lances’ outcry instantly turning to a more discouraged one. The rest of the Garrison Trio didn’t look too enthrilled either, but they’ve all agreed already that this get-together had to take place at least a day later. After all, Hunk had to experiment first, in order to get the right color done.

Seeing how bumped out the others looked, Shiro couldn’t help but smile and add to his previous statement:”… But that doesn’t mean that we should go without any food in our stomach, should we?”

“You understand us, Shiro!”, Hunk shouted, his eyes lighting up, before he focused back on his cooking. Pidge let out a sigh of relief, finally settling down on a chair. However, she eyed what Hunk was cooking and Lance could bet that she decided whether to wait for him to be ready or simply suck it up and eat what she’d gathered already. Meanwhile, Keith quietly sat down as well, having already decided for Hunk to do his magic. Even Shiro seemed to rather wait instead of get the food from the automate and in the end, Pidge disposed of her own plate.

On the other hand, Lance didn’t want to just sit down as well and instead, decided to ask Hunk the following, simple question:“Need a hand?” Hunk turned his head around and blinked, before giving his friend a grateful nod:”Sure. I mean, you guys need to learn that eventually, in case I’m down with sickness or anything!”

“Oh, by the way, Hunk? Did you take a look at the anti-gravity machine in the hangar yet? You know, the one we got from those people back at Nox?”, Pidge asked and got promptly an answer from the chef himself:“Actually, I’ve done that before coming here! Man, those Noxerians sure have some interesting mechanisms in their technology, don’t they? I mean, have you looked at that complex circulation?”

As Pidge and Hunk lost themselves in their conversation about their newest acquired device, even with the latter still cooking - Hunk was quite the multi-tasker, after all -, Lance started to tease Keith, who always retorted back whilst Shiro had to pacify them. Later on, they were joined by Allura, who had just finished some repairings on the ship. She told them that Coran would be on his way soon enough, because there was only so many ticks before an Altean got hungry as well.

Food was already served when Coran finally managed to arrive as well and for the first time since a while, the entirety of the Voltron Crew enjoyed a meal together. There was cheerful chattering going on, some squabblings - most of them coming from Lance and Keith, which came to no one’s surprise - and laughter echoed throughout the room.

In the middle of this all, Lance leaned back and simply took this whole scenario in. The kitchen being filled with loud noises was a great comfort to him. Even if only for a little bit - even if this wasn’t his family -, he’d still dived back into this all too familiar world thanks to these people.

Thanks to his _friends._

The blue paladin didn’t even realize the soft smile that had made its way on his face. Keith was the first to notice, addressing the wearer of this rather rare expression:”Lance?” Blinking, Lance turned his head around to face the black-haired boy, then mumbled quietly:”Thanks.”

“What?”

Quickly, Lance’s smile turned into a smirk as he raised his voice more:“What’s up, mullet boy? Missed hearing my voice?” While Keith gave him a confused look, Shiro could be already heard groaning. Pidge smirked as well and Hunk couldn’t help but sigh a bit. Coran was already bracing himself for the blue-red duo to get into another banter while Allura shared Shiro’s sentiments:“Guys, _really-_ ”

“Ah, younglings these days-”

As the conversation grew louder once again, there was one thing that Lance hadn’t forgotten about.

There was still operation _‘Keith Goo Mask’_ to be realized!


End file.
